Abstract
To maximize the performances of heterogeneous catalytic reactors, it is necessary to consider many parameters. Catalytic particle morphology (dimension, shape, active phase distribution) is generally previously established and seldom considered in the optimization of the catalyst to be specific for a given process. In this work, the influence of active phase distribution within spherical catalytic particles (egg-shell, egg-yolk and egg-white), on the yield and selectivity of a product is shown for a consecutive reaction network; here, the intermediate component is the main product of interest. Intraparticle mass and energy balances under non-steady conditions were implemented. Sensitivity studies lead to the identification of the optimal conditions, thus maximizing the yield of the intermediate for each active phase distribution. It was demonstrated that the egg-shell catalyst can maximize the intermediate yield, with a lower active-phase usage.
Highlights
The chemical industry has developed a growing interest in the enhancement of heterogeneously catalyzed processes
The reference parameters for all the simulations conducted in the present work are listed in Tables 1–3, inspired by the properties of the main components involved in ethylene oxide synthesis reaction promoted by silver catalyst [9,12]
The consecutive reaction scheme A→B→C was adopted as a reference study, where was investigated
Summary
The chemical industry has developed a growing interest in the enhancement of heterogeneously catalyzed processes. The catalytically active component is often dispersed on a thermostable support stabilizing itself and increasing the specific contact area. Conventional heterogeneous catalyst particles have a uniform distribution of the active species, e.g., metals. A uniform active phase distribution could be undesirable if the catalyst cost is high [1] or the system is limited by internal mass transfer [2]. Uniform: the active phase is homogeneously distributed in the support; Egg-shell: the active phase is located in the outer surface of the support; ChemEngineering 2020, 4, 24; doi:10.3390/chemengineering4020024 www.mdpi.com/journal/chemengineering. Egg-white: the active active phase phaseisispresent included region between outer-shell and the inner-core; Egg-yolk: the active phase is present in the inner-core of the support
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